We’re opening an album of photos related to the Big Wave development in Princeton. We’ve started with the slides from a presentation by Midcoast Community Council member Sabrina Brennan, but you’re invited to send us your photos and graphics for inclusion.

It’s difficult to get a handle on just how big Big Wave is and what its impact will be on the Coastside.  Your photos can help us understand what’s being proposed.

Over at Montara Fog, Darin Boville has a the site’s "historical" use for agriculture was used as a pretext for dumping truckloads of fill on the site without a permit.

According to local residents, in the 1980’s a former owner of the Big Wave property, J.L. Johnson, also had plans for a commercial development on the site. He took to farming in an apparent effort to eliminate environmental concerns. In 1988 he sued San Mateo County and won a ruling stating that "routine agricultural activity" on the property was exempt from both Coastal District Regulations and County Grading Regulations. Johnson farmed for a year or two before letting the land fall fallow.

Later Johnson was jailed after defrauding investors in his development projects on the coast.

After Jeff Peck and Steve Barber purchased the property they too proposed a large commercial project (Big Wave) and commenced farming the lots and reaping controversy. Neither owner is a farmer in his own right. Local farmers are hired to farm on the property.

The attorney who worked for J.L. Johnson, Mike McCracken, is also on the Big Wave leadership team.

This is a must-read and an excellent use of historical research to make a case.

State Senator Leland Yee has announced that he plans to introduce a bill, SB 650, to allocate $10 million in Proposition 84 Park Bond funds to Half Moon Bay so the city can acquire Beachwood for a public park.

Under the bill, there would be no houses built on the the property.  According to Half Moon Bay mayor John Muller, with the addition of the $5 million in settlement money set aside from the Association of Bay Area Governments settlement, "the city would only have to raise at most $4 to $5 million".  Muller told me that it might be possible to borrow that much without issuing a bond.

The city must pay Beachwood owner Chop Keenan $18 million by August 29 under the settlement, according to Muller.

The bill will be presented at the city council meeting on Tuesday, April 7.

SB 650 will be considered by a Senate policy committee in the coming weeks.  Assemblyman Jerry Hill will amend an identical bill (AB 650) in the Assembly.

Because SB 650 is an "urgency" measure, it must receive a 2/3 vote in order to pass. Muller noted that all segments of the community must support the bill if it is to receive the necessary votes in both houses.

While the city will receive an option to buy the adjacent Glencree property as part of the settlement, Muller declined to say what would be done with it, saying that he was focused on resolving the Beachwood issue right now.

The City of Half Moon Bay has scheduled a series of free, interactive community workshops beginning March 25 to gather input on the future of housing in the City. Residents and other interested parties may attend one or all of the workshops which are the first step in designing a new Housing Element for the City.

"This is a great opportunity for our residents to help us make sure we have the right mix of housing choices in our future," said Steve Flint, Planning Director. "Community input is crucial in preparing a Plan that reflects the primary issues and goals of our residents."

WHAT IS A HOUSING ELEMENT? It is a planning document designed to address the existing and projected housing needs for people of all incomes in the City. It will provide future guidance for the types and number of dwelling units that will be appropriate for the City over the next 20 years.

WHAT WILL THE WORKSHOPS BE LIKE? The workshops are an opportunity for the public to provide input on housing issues that face the city including the types of housing needed in Half Moon Bay, where new housing should be located and what types of special housing needs exist and need to be met within the city. In addition, the city is seeking input on how to preserve and improve the quality of Half Moon Bay’s existing residential neighborhoods.

HOW WILL THE INPUT BE USED? The input will be used to develop goals, strategies, policies and programs that will guide residential development in the City.
WORKSHOPS:

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Fax Your Letter of Support by Friday March 6

After more than 6 years of local public hearings and meetings, boxfuls of written testimony from citizens, and just plain hard work on the part of countless public officials, [pdf] the California Coastal Commission will consider on March 12 whether to approve a major amendment to the Midcoast Local Coastal Program (LCP). This comprehensive planning document will shape the future of Midcoast for the next several decades.

Your help is needed to urge the Commissioners to adopt the recommended document prepared by the Commission’s professional planning staff. A sample letter that can be faxed to the full set of Commissioners for inclusion in their meeting packets can be found at the end of this article. Anyone who cares about preserving California ’s coast for future generations can and should weigh in, not just residents of the Midcoast. Please don’t wait. Fax your letter of support to 415-904-5400 before 5 pm Friday March 6.

The Coastal Commission staff’s recommendations include the following: 

• An allowable growth rate for the Midcoast of 1 percent, consistent with Half Moon Bay’s voter-approved growth limit, [pdf] which is also recommended by staff for approval at the same March 12 meeting.

• A requirement for traffic analysis and mitigation for new development (except single family homes on existing legal lots and visitor serving uses).

• A prohibition against new private residential water wells until San Mateo County develops a groundwater management plan.

• An increase in priority water service connections for failed residential water wells from 10 houses to 50 houses.

• A prohibition against new private septic systems, unless authorized by an approved groundwater management plan.

• A requirement for a coastal development permit and LCP amendment for any new desalination plants, in order to fully protect sensitive coastal resources.

• A rezoning of the Burnham Strip in El Granada to allow public parking, trails, and public restrooms with an appropriate permit.

As stated in the executive summary of the 341-page staff report:

"The [County’s proposed] LCP amendment provides an important framework for updating portions of the LCP. However, additional changes are needed to assure consistency with Coastal Act requirements…[T]he County’s proposal does not sufficiently address the significant public services issues that have arisen since original certification of the LCP in 1981, including physical changes to the environment resulting in significant adverse effects on public health and safety, coastal resources, and coastal access. These changes include significant development over the last 20 years, new water supplies, issues and constraints, including failed private wells in the urban area; systemic sewage overflows and water quality problems; and severe congestion on the major coastal access routes that is adversely impacting public access to and along the shoreline."

A sample letter follows.

The details are sketchy, but Half Moon Bay has had a new "placeholder" bill introduced by Assemblyman Jerry Hill to help cover the $18 million cost of the Beachwood settlement, reports the County Times.

"I can guarantee you for sure it’s not about building houses. My ultimate goal would be to get some financial assistance and make this a nice little rest/park area," said [HMB Mayor John] Muller of Beachwood, which is a 24-acre expanse of tall grass, trees and scrub along Highway 1.

What form that financial assistance will take is unknown, especially considering the state budget debates. [Assemlyman Jerry] Hill said it might be possible to appropriate some new funds, but Muller said the city was much more likely to succeed at tapping into an existing bond with set-aside monies for a cause such as building a community park.

State Senator Leland Yee is also on board. Yee’s withdrawal of support played a significant factor in scuttling AB1991, the city’s first try at getting some relief. Because this has been introduced an an urgency measure, it will require a two-thirds vote to pass.

The county has stated that they will still accept public comments on the Facilites Plan, although the February 20th date specified as the deadline, has passed.  Copies of the plan are available here on Coastsider, on Montara Fog, and via the county at http://www.sforoundtable.org/pdf/BigWave/project.pdf (a very long download).

If you have not already commented please don’t hesitate to do so.  Planner is Camille Leung [[email protected]]

Send us your letters regarding Big Wave that you have sent to the county Planning Department. We’ll share them with the community.

Dear Planning Manager Leung

It is in the nature of a good professional planner to also be a Visionary, with the ability to look beyond the noise made by a few in the present, towards the needs of the Whole in the future.

Our Coastside is a Precious Jewel, not only for those of us who have chosen to live here in relative inconvenience and isolation, but to the rest of the people of San Mateo County, California, the United States of America, and all the countries of the World.

I meet people—ON A DAILY BASIS!—from around our state, country and world, who marvel at the beauty and ACCESSIBILITY of our little San Mateo County Coast, its beaches, hiking trails and lovely little businesses and restaurants. They tell me how wonderful their experience is to find such a place. They take back with them a memory that is often the unexpected high point of their vacation. And, they spend money and tell others what a great place this part of the California coast is for a vacation.

I simply don’t understand what purpose the Big Wave serves in the larger scheme of things, other than to put more money into the developers’ pockets. My own first cousin, Joan, has Downs Syndrome, a developmental disability. She utilizes a sheltered workshop situation and it seems to have improved the quality of her life. But, such work areas are best situated into, and spread out among, the larger community, so that the DD person can have the experience of MAINSTREAMING INTO the larger community, and NOT BE SET APART in a living/working/shopping area that will further emphasize their differences. It has long been understood in the field of human services that DD people, for their own happiness and fulfillment, should be integrated into the community as much as possible, not separated into concentrated communities consisting mainly of themselves.

Who are the developers really thinking of here? Not the DD people, who would be, essentially, institutionalized with decreased ability to share in the life of the greater Peninsula and Bay Area communities.  Not the accessibility of other San Mateo county residents to the Coastside. Not the people of the Coastside who need to get to and from work each day. Not the safety of all Coastside residents, DD and "normal", who would find it that much more impossible to evacuate in the face of a disaster. Not the many tourists, who would eventually learn to avoid this stretch of Highway One and take their dollars instead to Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. Not the residents of Greater San Mateo County, who look upon the Coastside, rightly, as their little place to "get away from it all" and have a few hours to a few days of accessible respite and renewal.

Please look into the future of San Mateo County. Please do not let a few greedy developers ruin one of the last best places on Earth.  Please serve the citizens of, not only the Coastside, but all of San Mateo County. Please take the long view - the one that is ultimately wiser, healthier for all citizens of San Mateo County, and more socially acceptable as well. Please do not let short-sighted greed over-develop the San Mateo County coastal areas.

Respectfully submitted

Susan Christine, M.A., MFT
Montara